


Shadow Proves the Substance True

by Carmarthen



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greece & Rome, Alternate Universe - Historical, Backstory, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-16 21:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/866991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmarthen/pseuds/Carmarthen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Epponina resents and envies her family's new slave girl. (A tiny snippet of Roman Gaul AU.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadow Proves the Substance True

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smokefall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smokefall/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Lark Ascends](https://archiveofourown.org/works/808801) by [Carmarthen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmarthen/pseuds/Carmarthen). 



> This was originally going to be part of some kind of Five Things AU story, but...my brain did not cooperate.

Epponina eyed the new slave with some displeasure: she was an ugly little thing, all eyes and forehead, and her tunic of pale blue linen bordered with green was far too fine. Slaves ought to be pleasant to look at, but not so well-dressed as their masters, and in Epponina’s young mind the other girl failed both of these dictates.

“What shall I call her, Mother?”

Epponina’s mother gave her an affectionate pat on the head. “Her useless slut of a mother called her Euphrasia, but that is far too much of a mouthful for a slave, I think. You may name her whatever you like, my dove.”

The girl gazed back at Epponina, wary but friendly, her chin up and her eyes direct. What a little barbarian! And yet there was something, something that almost made Epponina wonder if they might have been friends--

It was impossible. Friends with a slave girl, the very idea! “She is ugly as a baby bird,” Epponina said, smiling sweetly up at her mother. “I shall call her Alauda; that is a good name for a slave. And I ought to have her tunic, for it would look much better on me, would it not?”

The tunic did look well on Epponina, or at least her sister told her it did; certainly better than it possibly could on a slave. And yet, watching ugly little Alauda go about her work, head bent, not speaking to anyone, Epponina could not quite shake the unpleasant, itchy feeling that she had done something wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> "Alauda" means "Lark" in Latin; this story is so transparently by me I'm just going to admit it's a prequel to [The Lark Ascends](http://archiveofourown.org/works/808801).
> 
> Title from
> 
> Envy will merit as its shade pursue,  
> But like a shadow proves the substance true.  
> -Alexander Pope (1688–1744)


End file.
